$280 in 1915
is worth
$7,087.53
in 2019

Value of $280 from 1915 to 2019

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, prices in 2019 are
2,431.26% higher than
average prices since 1915.
The U.S. dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 3.16% per year during this period, causing the real value of a dollar to decrease.

In other words, $280 in 1915 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $7,087.53 in 2019, a difference of $6,807.53 over 104 years.

The 1915 inflation rate was 1.00%. The inflation rate in 2019 was 1.76%.
The 2019 inflation rate is higher compared to the average inflation rate of 0.29% per year between 2019 and 2020.

San Francisco, California experienced the highest rate of inflation during the 104 years between 1915 and 2019 (3.39%).

Chicago, Illinois experienced the lowest rate of inflation during the 104 years between 1915 and 2019 (3.11%).

Note that some locations showing 0% inflation may have not yet reported latest data.

Inflation by Country

Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £280.00 in 1915 would be equivalent to £28,545.29 in 2019, an absolute change of £28,265.29 and a cumulative change of 10,094.75%.

In Canada, CA$280.00 in 1915 would be equivalent to CA$5,928.89 in 2019, an absolute change of CA$5,648.89 and a cumulative change of 2,017.46%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $6,807.53 and total percent change of 2,431.26%.

Inflation by Spending Category

CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. Breaking down these categories helps explain the main drivers behind price changes. This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1915 and 2019.

$280 in 1915 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $7,087.53 in 2019.

To get the total inflation rate for the 104 years between 1915 and 2019, we use the following formula:

CPI in 2019 - CPI in 1915CPI in 1915

×

100

=

Cumulative inflation rate (104 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

255.6575 - 10.110.1

×

100

=

2,431%

Comparison to S&P 500 Index

The average inflation rate of 3.16% has a compounding effect between 1915 and 2019. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 2,431.26% over 104 years.

To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $280 in the S&P 500 index in 1915, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $8,274,485.85 in 2019. This is a return on investment of 2,955,073.52%, with an absolute return of $8,274,205.85 on top of the original $280.

These numbers are not inflation adjusted, so they are considered nominal. In order to evaluate the real return on our investment, we must calculate the return with inflation taken into account.

The compounding effect of inflation would account for 96.05% of returns ($7,947,594.18) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $280 investment is $326,611.67. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $277,620 for most people.

Investment in S&P 500 Index, 1915-2019

Original Amount

Final Amount

Change

Nominal

$280

$8,274,485.85

2,955,073.52%

RealInflation Adjusted

$280

$326,891.67

116,647.02%

Information displayed above may differ slightly from other S&P 500 calculators. Minor discrepancies can occur because we use the latest CPI data for inflation, annualized inflation numbers for previous years, and we compute S&P price and dividends from January of 1915 to latest available data for 2019 using average monthly close price.

News headlines from 1915

Politics and news often influence economic performance. Here's what was happening at the time:

French troops force Germans back into the Champagne region, suffering losses of 50,000 men and gaining several hundred yards.

Germany uses poison gas for the first time in World War I.

Almost 430,000 French, British, and Germans are killed in the Battle of Loos.

The one-millionth Model T is produced by Ford Motor Company.

Data Source & Citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics'
Consumer Price Index
(CPI), established in 1913. Inflation data from 1665 to
1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science
professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page:
“$280 in 1915 → 2019 | Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 7 Jun. 2020, https://www.officialdata.org/1915-dollars-in-2019?amount=280.

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.